Google I/O Attendees to Get a Free Nexus One or Droid Before the Conference

Google I/O Attendees to Get a Free Nexus One or Droid Before the Conference To give them time to familiarize with the platform Google I/O attendees from the US are getting a Motorola Droid Enlarge picture Google is very interested in the mobile space and for good reason, smartphones are selling like hot cakes and the number of people going online from their mobile devices is increasing at a huge pace. But it can only do so much internally, it needs third-party developers interested in the market as well and it especially wants them to build for its Android platform. And what better way to convince a developer to start working on Android than to get him or her using an actual Android device. That's the reasoning behind Google's latest move, to send Google's I/O developer conference attendees either a Google Nexus One or a Motorola Droid smartphone. The conference, one of Google's most important yearly events, is taking place next month and it looks like Google wants to make sure that everyone has an Android device to play with before the event, which is likely to focus especially on the mobile front. The announcement was made in an email sent to registered attendees. "This year’s Google I/O is less than 2 months away, and we’re very excited that you and over 4,000 other developers will be joining us in San Francisco," the email to developers read. "As you might have guessed, Android will have a big presence at this year’s event. To make sure you’re equipped to make the most of your Android experience during Google I/O, we’d like to mail you a Verizon Droid by Motorola before the event." US residents will get Motorola Droid, from Verizon, but international visitors will get an unlocked Google Nexus One. Google has done this to give developers time to familiarize with the phones and the platform and maybe even take a shot at developing for Android. The company did something very similar last year, when it handed everyone in attendance an Android phone. But, in 2010, it wants to avoid the hassle of giving everyone a phone at the same time and it also wants to save developers the trouble of setting up their phones on the spot when their time could be spent much more productively.